Blue Devil's Heart
by tabbikitti
Summary: It's been a month since the Savior incident and Fortuna Castle needs to be cleared out. Nero and Dante head there, but what they find will send them on a new adventure.  Little to no romance and no BL.
1. A Simple Request

Holy carp..I will start by apologizing greatly for leaving you guys for so long. Life happens and such, but that is no excuse for leaving you guys hanging for, what was it, almost a year..crap. WELL ANYWAYS I am back again. My muse decided to finally kick me and get me back to working on this. All of the chapters are getting some more meat on them and will be uploaded at least once every two weeks, depending upon whether I can keep going on tonight. You may get them sooner.(!) So hopefully you guys enjoy this new chapter, little bit of swearing, nothing nobody shouldn't be able to handle.

Unfortunately Devil May Cry does not belong to me...you'd think people would know if I owned it or not. I only own the games and will hopefully be in possession of the HD collection soon!

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><p>It all started with a phone call. In fact a lot of his exploits started with a simple call. Not that he hated them; it was just that he was running a very specialized business. Every customer that called in with the password meant that he had money to spend on pizza, strawberry sundaes, and alcohol. Of course, that was after you subtracted the payments for damage to the surroundings when he fought in cities, a few medical bills and bribes to keep those injured by his antics quiet and finally, whatever Lady felt like taking out as her cut for when she 'helped out' and then some to cover the never ending debt she insisted he still had with her. It didn't always leave him with much, but he made enough to live of off and he couldn't be happier.<p>

The phone on his desk had just started ringing as Dante walked down the steps and into his office. He walked past Trish as she went to pick up the phone and continued towards the small bar tucked into the back corner. He bent down and grabbed a beer from the shelf, raising it slightly in thanks at her as he stood back up. She knew that he had grown to dislike answering calls over the years, preferring to take only the jobs of those who he saw in person. Somehow members of the upper class and a few questionable groups had obtained his number and had begun calling the shop constantly, asking him to be a hired guard for them. They were under the delusion that he couldn't deny their generous offers forever, no matter how many times they were told his business wasn't meant for that. They thought that they just had to find his starting number. So instead of him ignoring the phone, which had become annoying within the first week, Trish had volunteered to answer phones. She quickly saw why Dante chose to ignore these men. They called her his 'secretary' and when she bluntly said that she was just as good as him they repeated 'secretaries wouldn't be able to handle the types of jobs they wanted Dante for'. She was tempted many times to head down to where these groups were and give them a piece of her mind, Dante being the sensible one for once and stopping her every time.

The one time Trish had brought up the idea of buying an answering machine after a partially idiotic man had called and in many words told her no and laughed at her, he had looked at her in disbelief for a few seconds before bursting out laughing.

"_Why would I want to hear those idiots by choice? Calls like that are why I don't answer the phone as much and besides, it's much more refreshing to let them kept trying until they get the hint. If they want to waste their time calling me, then let them. They'll be long dead before they can convince me to take a job from them."_

That last bit had been said with a slightly disgusted look on his face. He had been tricked once by a very sly caller who had claimed there was a demon on the loose nearby him and to hurry. He left without a question and when he got to where said demon was supposed to be, all he found was a leader of one of the groups that had been calling. Needless to say he found out quickly that it was very difficult to breathe with a gun pushing on his throat once he was forced to tell them the truth. Trish thought that the man had been let off too easily, but Dante had only shrugged his shoulders. Tossing him into the water had been enough to get rid of his frustrations. She just thought that tossing him roughly 50 feet out wasn't far enough.

So it was with a heavy sigh and a shake of her head that she picked up the receiver, preparing for the bullshit that was sure to follow the customary greeting and having to turn away a job with high pay and low risk.

"Devil May Cry, how can I help you?" Trish listened to the voice on the other end for a minute, answering back with a few words. The grin on her face spread as Dante's confusion grew. Finally she covered the speaker and held the phone out to Dante. "For you, Dante. I think you'll like this one."

Raising an eyebrow, he walked over to her and set his beer down as he took the phone from Trish. After a slightly impatient gesture from her before she walked away he put it up to his ear and spoke. "Hello, what can we do for you?"

Nero's voice floated out of the phone and it was Dante's turn to grin. He had only met the kid a few times while working on the Savior incident and had instantly seen himself when he was younger in him. It was one of the few reasons he had let Nero keep Yamato. There was also another reason, but it was one he wouldn't voice unless there were cold, hard facts staring him in the face.

"Hey Dante, it's been a while."

"Kid! Finally decided to give us a call, I see. Too busy being in the limelight for saving your town to remember us small folk over here." Dante faked a small sob. "Just don't let it get to your head. I've seen..."

"What are you going on about, you old man?" Nero said as he interrupted Dante's overly dramatic speech. "Can't I just call you to ask something?" It was clear that he was happy to be talking to him, but there was something else irritating him.

"Okay then kid, shoot. What did you want to talk about?" He asked as he leaned against his desk, crossing his ankles.

"I was wondering if you were looking for work to do."

Dante immediately stood up straighter and Trish walked over to stand beside him. "Go on."

"I, well mainly the town, was wondering if we could get your help back here in Fortuna. They want Agnus's workplace cleared out, and the townsfolk would feel a lot more comfortable if you were to help out."

"What kid, are you not enough to handle it?' He smirked, knowing that it was irritating Nero that the town felt that he was not skilled enough to handle this on his own.

"I can handle it just fine, if they would only let me!" He yelled. "It's the..." Nero started to protest but Dante cut him off before he got upset.

"Don't worry about it. I'll come and help as long as I get compensation for it." Trish hit him round the head, making him wince. "Ouch, what was that for Trish?" She just rolled her eyes at him. "Fine, I guess it's the least I can do since I was the main reason they started this whole thing in the first place." He heard Nero sigh lightly, probably in relief and he continued. "I'll head out right now, so I'll be there in about two hours. Where would be the easiest place to meet up at?"

"Why don't we meet up in front of the opera house? You know, the one where I kicked your ass and you retreated?"

"If I remember right, I had other business to attend to, so I left with style and that fight ended in a draw. Though I do remember beating you later on." Dante chuckled as Nero gave a small 'humph' sound. "So I guess this will be the start of a brand new mission for us then. The dynamic duo, setting off as partners this time, working towards the same goal." He knew Nero was probably rolling his eyes at him, and he laughed at the thought.

"Yeah, we can be called the White Haired Duo. What was that madam? Oh no, we're not father and son, not at all. The same hair color? Just a coincidence." Nero said sarcastically as Dante laughed.

"You know it. Anyways, I'll see you in a few hours. Till later, kid." Dante hung up the phone and turned to Trish. "Well, looks like Fortuna wants help with something again."

She nodded. "Yeah, I heard. And let me guess, you'd like for me to stay here and watch the shop?" She said as she grabbed Dante's can sitting on the desk.

"Yeah, if you wouldn't mind." He said as he watched her drink the last of his beer before setting it down again. He picked it up and shook it, a disgruntled look on his face. Sighing as he tossed it towards the trash pile, Dante looked at Trish seriously. "And if you wouldn't mind, could you keep where I am a secret from Lady? The last thing I need right now is for her to show up and take half the pay."

"Sure thing Dante. If she asks I'll just distract her with some shopping." Trish said with a smile as he turned around to his weapon storage. "On you, of course." She mumbled to herself.

Pushing the door open, Dante was greeted by a chorus of voices. There was the low baritone of Cerberus, the electrically seductive voice of Nevan, the questioning voices of Agni and Rudra, who stopped as soon as Dante looked at them, the demanding voice of Ifirit, and the strict voice of Alastor; all of them probably hurt that they had been locked in this room for so long. With a sigh he looked at the place where the gauntlets that had been Beowulf once sat. He had kept them for a while, but the thought that his brother had fought with them before him slowly became too painful of a reminder and he had tossed them into a Hell Gate long ago. Where he had ended up Dante had no clue.

Clearing his head of such thoughts, he focused on what the sentient weapons were saying. Each one of them was asking to be taken out; they all wanted a fight.

"Take me. I will serve you again as I had once served the tower."

"Come on, sugar. Let's give them a show they will never forget."

"Take us!"

"Yes, take us! We promise to be completely silent."

"Completely silent? But what if he needs our advice on something, Brother?"

"Our advice? Hmm. I did not think of that, Brother. I guess if we must give our advice, only then shall we speak!"

"Shut. Up. Right now." The twin scimitars quickly fell silent again.

"No. He shall take me, and we will burn our foes with the fires of Hell!"

"He will take only me. Only he is worthy of wielding me, no other weapon will suffice."

"Guys." Dante started, but the devil arms couldn't hear them over their arguing, the racket getting louder by the second as they vied for his attention. Getting frustrated, he put two fingers in his mouth and gave a short, loud whistle. At once the noise stopped and Dante sighed. "Sorry guys. I'm only going to clean out a place. There would be nothing major to bring everyone alone for. Besides, you'd just get bored. Next time, okay?"

"You better hold to your promise." Ifirit said.

"And you better not come back all beat up and have us tell you we told you so." Added Alastor.

"You won't have to worry. I can handle myself." Dante said as he picked up a shotgun. "I'll be back before you know it, and I may just bring back that kid with me. The one I met last time when I picked up those devil arms." He walked out as they chatted amongst themselves about meeting Nero. They all shared the similar view that unless something else happened, Nero would grow up to be an exact copy of Dante.

He walked back towards his desk and grabbed his coat from off the back of his chair. Sliding into it he grabbed his twin pistols and broadsword, putting them into their holsters. With a final thanks and small wave over his shoulder at Trish behind him, Dante kicked the door open, mumbling to himself. "Let's rock."


	2. Playing the Waiting Game

Whelp. Here it is. Part 2 of the rewrite. Going to keep chugging along with Chapter 3 and on, so who knows! There may be a new chapter up soon! This chapter actually didn't change all that much since I myself was pretty happy with it and I couldn't think of anyway to change it, but I still encourage you to reread it. Just keep in mind that I have no beta to help me with any mistakes or inconsistencies you may see.

BTW Disclaimer: Still doesn't belong to me. *sighs*

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><p>"Where is he?" Brown boots tapped an impatient staccato against the dark gray pavement, splashing occasionally in a puddle of water as their owner paced back and forth. The area was littered with broken bits of a fountain, casting shadows everywhere in the setting sun. "He said it would only take him a couple of hours to get here and it's been over four since I called him. Will he hurry his ass up already so I can beat him up for being so late?"<p>

The boots stopped their pacing as the owner slammed his fist against a large chunk of stone. It crumbled under the force of his punch, exposing the setting sun as he pulled it away. He had unconsciously swung with his right hand, forgetting for a moment how different it was from his left. The boots began to pace again, each step echoing loudly in the quieting city.

"Calm down Nero. He said he would be here, so he will get here eventually. Maybe he found some demons on his way here and is busy getting rid of them." Kyrie said as she reached towards him in an effort to try and calm down her boyfriend. It was easy to see that Nero was becoming impatient, something that he was well known for. Dante was already over two hours late and they couldn't head out in the dark. They wouldn't be able to see where they were going and they would have to wait until morning.

"Seriously, if you're going to be late, then don't tell someone you'll be there in a few hours."

Kyrie walked up to Nero and gently pulled him towards a bench they had set up temporarily to allow workers to rest. Pulling him down so he would sit with her, she placed her hands on his. Nero relaxed slightly, grateful that Kyrie wasn't uncomfortable with him at all. His arm made most people skirt around him when they walked.

"There's no real sense to be pacing while you're waiting for him." Kyrie said softly. "We both know that you can't head out this late and we can't force Dante to hurry."

Nero sighed. "You're right." He gently pulled his left hand out from under hers and placed his arm around her shoulders, leaning back on the bench. "Though it wouldn't have hurt him to at least call. I could have stayed and helped out the town a bit more."

Kyrie and Nero had spent the day helping the town rebuild, with Nero putting his all into it. He wanted people to know that he wouldn't hurt them. He had told himself over and over again that he would endure exile if it was forced upon him, but until then he would try damn hard to make them understand. At first they avoided him, realizing that it was him who had crushed the face of the 'Savior' statue. They didn't know if he would turn and attack him like the countless other demons that had flooded the town. But as they saw Nero using his arm to lift the larger pieces of concrete and easily carry them to one pile, all but a few joined him; picking up smaller chunks and placing them in the same pile.

Those who didn't help him called him cursed and stayed far away from wherever he was working. When one stopped midway in a job and looked at him in disgust before walking away, Nero could only shrug. He muttered 'you can't please them all' before finishing the job the man had left.

They sat on the bench for a while before Nero became restless and jumped back up to pace some more. Nero was ready to get going an hour ago and Kyrie knew that he was slowly getting tired. She looked towards the water and sighed, starting to feel restless herself. Putting her hands together in front of her, she silently prayed that Dante would show up soon as Nero punched the wall once again.

XxXxXxX

Dante stepped off the small boat he had "borrowed" and onto the pier of Port Caerula, surveying the surroundings. The last time he was here he didn't really get a chance to actually see anything, so he took his time getting to the opera house. The town really was a beautiful place to visit, and he bet that it was an even better place to live. He could see the charm in living in a place that didn't depend greatly on modern technology like back at Devil May Cry, but it wasn't for him. He was naturally inclined to avoid towns that knowingly built around a Hell Gate and worshiped his father, Sparda.

Heading into the city, he walked slowly and looked around at the damage that was left, ignoring the few people that were no doubt whispering about him. It had only been a month, but the progress they were making was incredible. All of the overturned cars had been cleared away and the buildings were all fixed up. It looked that only a few places in and around the opera house were in need of repair. Plus the castle needed to be cleared out, but no one wanted to go there except him and the kid.

Finally done with his small walk around, Dante deemed it time to head to the opera house. As he neared, he looked up ahead and watched the two people in front of him for a few minutes. Nero was pacing back and forth and Kyrie sitting down looking at him worriedly. He saw the kid stop and punch the wall next to him, taking out a pretty good chunk of the wall out with it. He heard some muttering and Kyrie was gesturing, trying to calm him down. When she turned and looked towards the port, her mouth opened slightly at seeing him. He quickly put his finger to his lips, and she closed her mouth, nodding slightly.

Dante quickly jumped up onto the short building behind Nero and Kyrie and sat down to listen for a while longer. He watched Nero pace around some more until he punched the wall again. "Damn him. Why is he so late? If he doesn't show up soon, I'll go out and find him myself, kick his ass and then drag his unconscious body back here."

"Aw, come on kid, would you really do that to someone with such a pretty face like mine? That's a bit harsh you know." All he got for an answer was a gun in his face. He put his hands up in mock surrender. "Alright, alright, I can take a hint." He jumped down and brushed his coat off. "Are we going to get going or just hang around here all day?"

Nero glared at him. "We would have been able to leave today if you hadn't been over two hours late." He put his gun away, now knowing that it was only Dante showing up and not one of the demons that liked to poke their head out every now and then. "But now it's too late we wouldn't even get to the castle till after dark, plus the cliff edge that we would have to walk on in the dark; so we can't head out until tomorrow morning. Unless you feel like spending the night in the cold, damp mines."

"I'll pass. Besides, getting over here wasn't exactly easy, I had to find a boat to borrow and that was hard enough in itself." He wisely left out that he had been wandering around the town for the last hour and half. "Well if we're not leaving tonight I could go for a strawberry sundae and a pizza. But without olives." He got odd looks from both of them and he shrugged. "What? I can't have favorite foods?"

Nero just shrugged, his anger forgotten, mentally crediting Dante's lateness with him trying to find a way to the island. Finding a boat that would travel here late in the evening was near impossible. "I just never put you as someone who liked to eat pizza and strawberry sundaes. Well, I guess we can get you a place to sleep for the night and then get going in the morning. But now let's go eat." He took Kyrie's hand in his and the three of them headed into town to find a restaurant.

The next morning Dante woke up with the sun shining in his room at Nero's house. The dream that had woken him up was fading out of his memory faster than he could remember even having it. He stretched out on the bed and rubbed his face, trying to relax back into sleep again. Being more accustomed to sleeping in his chair or on the loveseat at the office, a bed was a welcomed change. The thought about moving his bedroom downstairs so he could sleep on a bed more often crossed his mind and he chuckled. What would Trish think about that one? She would probably would roll her eyes at him and tell him to not be so lazy. He rolled back over so the sun fell on his back and fell asleep until Nero came and pounded on his door to wake up. Stretching until he felt his bones crack, he yawned and began to get dressed_. I hope those two will at least let me grab some breakfast_, he mused as his stomach growled.

Putting his coat on, he slung his sword onto his back and walked down the stairs while sliding Ebony and Ivory into their places behind his back. He met up with Nero in the mudroom and the two of them walked out the door. Kyrie was waiting for them outside the house with a bag and Dante looked at her questioningly, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"You're not going to be coming with us are you? I hope not, it could get pretty dangerous." Dante turned to Nero and gave him a look of disappointment. "I hope you aren't stupid enough to tell her that she could come with."

Kyrie shook her head and picked up the bag that was sitting on the ground next to her. "No, I didn't plan on coming with you guys. I just came here to give this to you guys." She smiled and held out the bag she was holding towards them. "There's lunch in there for when you get up to the castle." She blushed. "It's nothing to big, just some sandwiches."

Dante took the bag from her hands with a grin on his face. "Aw, thanks a ton. I'm starving and any food made by you will be sure to fill us up." He opened the bag up and grabbed a sandwich out of the bag, taking a bite out of it with a groan. "Nero, you got yourself a good cook there." He said, swallowing. "Don't let her get away from you, not too many females have such a talent to make a simple sandwich this good."

Both Nero and Kyrie blushed as they looked at each other. It was as plain as day that the two of them were in love, and Dante secretly promised them that he would do anything he could to keep them together. It wasn't easy being part demon and it was even harder to find someone who could wholly accept it either. He knew himself the troubles of opening up to someone who couldn't accept the demon part of him. A certain dark haired someone crossed his mind and he shook his head clear it. There was no way she would ever accept him, she was too in love with money and had too much hate in her heart for any type of demon.

Dante waited until Nero had said his goodbyes to Kyrie and gave her a shy kiss on the cheek; they headed down the road towards Fortuna Castle. They walked out to the port and turned towards the bridge that would bring them to the old mines. Threading through the tunnels and up the path they walked out into the place where a miner town used to sit. The two of them stopped as they remembered fighting against the great demon Berial here. Nero remembered how he had almost beaten him only to have him retreat and Dante remembered how disappointing his death was.

"Such a anti-dramatic end, nothing major." Nero looked at Dante and he continued. "When Berial realized that he had to either retreat again or kill me, he put all of his energy into one last attack. I only had to shoot him once more to finish it and I was disappointed with how he died. It was only a few small sparks, not the grand fireworks display that I thought would happen."

"Oh, I see. So you were the one who destroyed the gate also? What exactly kept it running? I guess I originally thought that you had made them so you were the only one that could destroy them. Now I know better." His eyes darkened as the memory of Sanctus crossed his mind and he kicked at the dirt, knocking over a sign that miraculously survived the fires. He read the words Mundus Vivendi Mining Co. before flipping it back over with a flick his foot.

Dante shrugged noticing Nero's sudden change in attitude. "Nothing major really, just a devil's arm that gave me endless swords that could hang in the air and would explode when I snapped my fingers. It was amusing to watch the demons walk around sticking themselves with the swords before exploding." Dante chuckled as he remembered how the weapon had felt in his hands and the thrill at seeing his opponents explode at his whim.

"They exploded at your command? You may just have to let me try that out later." Nero's spirit rose back up with the prospect of trying out a new weapon.

"Sure, we can do that as long as that arm of yours doesn't suck it in. On second thought, how about you try out Agni and Rudra first. That way if they get pulled in we can take precautions."

"Agni and Rudra? What are those?" Nero asked, thoroughly confused. "Are they some other type of weapon?"

Dante laughed. "You bet. They can get a little talkative but are good fighters when it comes down to it."

"Wait. Talkative? What do you mean by that?" Nero said as he grabbed onto Dante's arm. "You mean to tell me that there are weapons that can speak?"

"Yep, though not many chose to do so. They did come from a devil's soul. I've only come across a few in all my years of finding them and let me tell you. It's not always a picnic. Especially when they don't know when to shut up." He clapped his hands together and took off in the direction of the truck that somehow avoided being completely destroyed. "Well, we better get going if we want to get back as soon as we can. I'd liked to see what else Kyrie could cook." He rubbed his stomach in appreciation. "If she can make sandwiches taste that good, I'd like to see what else she cooks up."


	3. A Cool Welcome

Whoho! Here's the Chapter 3 rewrite! I encourage all of you to pleasePLEASE reread the story. I've added some and changed some bits so they hopefully flow quicker. I'm thinking about adding in a small new chapter after fixing all of these just to push it up on the updates page. I hope you are all super excited that I'm not dead. If there is any confusion on what is happening in the story, just pm me or leave a review if you can! I'll try and respond to you as quick as I can. Once again, mild language, nothing nobody shouldn't be able to handle.

Disclaimer...*checks bank account* Nope, still no royalty check, so nothing belongs to me except the original ideas from my brain.

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><p>They walked up the path into the mine and headed through quickly. As they turned the corner Dante stopped short.<p>

"Um, kid..."

"Nero."

"Right. There's something that had bothered me last time. How did you get up there?" Dante asked as he pointed up. "The platforms look somewhat stable, but when I came through here it looked like no one had stepped on them."

Nero chuckled and half turned towards Dante. "Easy, old man. I climbed."

"Climbed? Like, scaling the walls like a spider or something? Man I'd pay to see you do that." Dante said as he laughed, Nero's grin turning into a scowl.

"No you idiot, not like a spider. Like this." Nero said as he gathered his power into his right arm, making it glow a bright blue. With a short yell, he thrust his arm out and manifested a glowing replica of his demon arm. Grabbing onto a small crevice he launched himself up and repeated the action, pausing in between each grab to collect more energy in his arm. He quickly reached the top and stood on the edge of the platform grinning down at Dante who was staring incredulously up at him. "Well are you coming or are you just going to stand down there collecting water in your mouth?"

Dante shut his mouth with a clack and marched towards the platforms muttering 'show-off' under his breath. He leaped from platform to platform just as quickly as Nero ascended and soon stood beside him. "Geeze, forget I said anything about being like a spider. I think monkey is more suitable for you."

Nero sputtered for a second before glaring at Dante. "Whatever. Just admit you were impressed and let's go." He turned and walked the short distance to where a ladder sat and ignored it, leaping up the two levels short it covered. With a shake of his head Dante followed. They paused at the exit before giving each other quick look. They pulled their coats tighter around themselves and headed out into the snowy landscape. Just because there wasn't a storm blowing didn't mean that the air wasn't still chilly. The cold bit even deeper after coming out from the damp mine.

The walk brought them around the edge of the cliff and Fortuna Castle loomed into view. It was a sight to see; the towers rising so high they seemed to pierce the sky. Even now in its current state, with the bridge heading down out and definite signs of destruction, there was no hiding the history and beauty the place held. The two silently walked down the path to where they knew a broken path heading to the main bridge lay.

They leaped down onto the soft, snowy outcroppings and bits of broken structure, knocking snow loose as they descended before landing gracefully onto the ground below. Both men instinctively grabbed for their weapons as a pair of Frosts greeted them, but relaxed their hold slightly as they turned and disappeared. It seemed like they were only around because of the lingering demonic power in the air from the experiments Agnus conducted. Dante shrugged it off, thinking that they had finally learned who they were and had realized that they would not survive an encounter with the two of them. Nero on the other hand was unsettled and shifted slightly, his left hand releasing it grip on Red Queen while his right stayed near Blue Rose.

"What do you think that was all about? They usually don't turn tail and run like that do they?" He pointed to where they had disappeared and looked at Dante, raising an eyebrow. "I've never seen them behave that way. Kind of unnerving if you ask me."

Dante gave out a loud laugh and put his hand on Nero's shoulder, making his eyes narrow in confusion. "I guess they took one look us and decided that they were no match for two of us. I can only imagine what you could do to them with that arm. I've felt it once myself, and I don't want to get on the bad end of it again." He rubbed his jaw, remembering the beating he had taken just before Nero had thrown him against the statue depicting his father and impaling him on it with Rebellion. It had taken quite a bit of concentration to prevent him from releasing his devil fully and throw the kid off him. He faintly wondered what Nero's reaction would be to seeing his devil form since Nero only had a specter of his form that would hover behind him.

"Yeah. Sorry 'bout that, but you did kind of come in through the window and kill quite a few people. Most of them I had known, so what did you expect me to do, shake your hand and say 'welcome to the neighborhood'?"

"Damn, kid. I didn't know that. Guess I should be the one saying sorry." Dante said as he squeezed Nero's shoulder for a second. He truly did feel bad for killing the guards, but in his defense it was either they or himself. "I wouldn't have killed them if they hadn't been demons already. I have a strict policy of not killing humans."

"Just humans?" Nero said, glancing quickly at Dante. "What about demons?"

"Depends. If they still have some humanity in them then no." Dante felt Nero relax under his grip and couldn't help but laugh. "What, did you think I'd kill you?" Nero turned his head away and stayed silent. "Don't worry kid. You have more humanity than some humans I've seen, so you're safe."

He clapped Nero on the shoulder once more before walking towards the castle, changing the conversation. "Now let's go see where those two headed off to. They probably had just talked amongst themselves and decided it was best to avoid us at all costs. That or they are leaving to get reinforcements. Maybe they left to see if they couldn't stir up one of those lightening demons to help them. Now that would be nice. I haven't had a good fight in a while."

Nero just shook his head and trudged through the snow after him. Was that really what Dante considered fun? He remembered his first time fighting one of those. He couldn't disagree that it was definitely a challenge and he couldn't deny the thrill that came after killing it. "Yeah, the lightening demons are pretty fun to fight, but they are a pain in the ass. I'm not complaining, but was it really necessary for them to try and kamikaze once they knew they were done for?" They continued walking towards the front door as they discussed back and forth about which demons they'd want to fight again.

"Those lizard type monsters, the ones with the shields and helmets, those were fun to fight again. They kept you on your toes and didn't just stand there while you beat on them. Though when they would dive underground was a bit startling. Didn't know exactly what they were going to do at first, so I was a bit surprised." Dante pointed to his arm. "I barely dodged out of the way so it only ended up clipping me, but almost tore through my jacket."

"Again?"

"Yeah, I fought them a few years ago on another island." Nero looked intrigued and Dante waved a hand at him. "Story for another time."

Nero nodded. "I see. So what about the cloaked bug looking ones that could pass through anything when they felt like it." He put his hand on his stomach. "I got greeted by those with one coming out of my stomach. It was the oddest feeling, knowing that something was through me but not feeling it."

"Yeah I didn't fight too many of those. They were annoying bastards when they had their cloaks on, though once you got rid of that with a few shots they turned out to be complete cowards. The gray ones were more fun though, when they would summon the spikes that hovered around you." He thought about it for a second. "That's actually what Lucifer, the devil arm that I got from the Hell Gate back there, could do."

"Fun? Sure, if you want to call it that. Though I bet the first gray one that I saw probably regretted even coming near me. Kyrie had just been taken away by the gold armor, so I vented my frustrations out on it." He stopped as they approached the door and put his hand on it. "Well, shall we head in? Maybe we'll get lucky and find a few demons still lurking in there."

Dante nodded in agreement and the two of them pushed the doors open, wincing at the loud screech it gave out as it ran over the floor. There was some frost left on the first floor from when Dagon had frozen it over, but other than that the inside didn't look any different from when they had left it a month ago. The giant chandelier was still lying on the floor surrounded by bits of the wall and ceiling that had fallen when Nero cut it down, and the portrait of Sanctus was peeling away from the hole that was made where it collided. Large chunks of ice were scattered around the opening in the portrait, and several corners of it were encased in ice.

Nero whistled. "Man, they really haven't come here at all. The chandelier is still where it landed and no one has bothered to repair that portrait I ruined."

"You mean you did all this destruction?" Dante nodded his head appreciatively. "Not even I could manage this much chaos in one small room."

"Hey, I was irritated and the chandelier was going to come down sooner or later. I just decided to help it along a bit. Not my fault it smashed into what it did."

"I'm not criticizing you, I'm actually impressed." Dante said as he walked around. "Definitely helped you to open up that hidden space."

"Yeah, yeah. So what do you think we should do first? Clear out the wings of the castle then head down that hole to the lab?" Nero said, gesturing towards each place as he said it.

"Why don't we go around first? Doesn't that area behind the portrait lead underground or something?" Dante said. He looked at all the doors and picked one at random. "That one. We'll head through there and make our way around unless we get distracted."

As they turned towards the door on the ground floor, they heard a huge crash. Turning towards the sound they saw a swarm of Frosts piling out the wide hole in the portrait of Sanctus. They both wheeled back around and crouched down slightly, both of them preparing for the fight to come.

"I guess that means they decided to get back up. Say, why don't we make things interesting and see which one of us can kill the most. Loser treats winner to dinner, what do you say?" Dante said, a maniacal grin spreading across his face. He lived for fights like this and to be able to share it with someone else only escalated the excitement for him.

Nero brushed the back of his left hand across his nose. "Are you sure your pride can handle it when you lose? I'll make sure to hold you to that you know." He put his hand on Red Queen's handle and gave it a few test revs. A small amount of propellant sprayed onto the blade and Dante felt like the blade itself was quivering with excitement.

He laughed. "What makes you so sure I'm going to lose?" He pulled Rebellion off his back and pointed it at the incoming Frosts. "I can take all of these out before you even get to one." He took off, jumping right into the middle of the group. He aimed for the Frost that was below his feet and swung his sword down with a yell.

"Is that so? I'll just have to prove you wrong then." Nero said as he threw out his right arm and grabbed the Frost that Dante was swinging at. He pulled it back to him as Dante's sword hit the floor and swung it around a few times, making sure to hit its head against the floor to stun it and break away at the ice that served as its armor before throwing it into a pair coming towards him. He ran after them while pulling Red Queen off his back and swung it down, slicing two of them in half easily and grazing the third. Nero continued to turn with the force of his swing and finished the third one off easily by slicing through the shoulder and down to the opposite hip.

"Hey kid, that one was mine!" Dante shouted at him as he watched him easily take out the three of them. Turning back to the Frosts swarming around him, he threw his arms out. "Well boys, I can't let him upstage me like that." With a yell he swung Rebellion in a horizontal line at the large group and sent out a burst of power with it. His sword cut through those standing directly in front of him and the energy he sent out took care of any that were unlucky enough to stand behind them.

They continued to slice away at the Frosts, not moving far from their position by the chandelier. Dante noticed that the group was slowly disappearing one by one before hearing Nero's yells as he swung his sword or grabbed one of them to swing around. Eventually the yells became mixed with laughter and he was glad that Nero was enjoying himself. Suddenly the remaining ones backed off as one with the two hunters trapped in the middle. In tandem, they all jumped into the air and paused for a split second before shooting out projectiles. The ice raced towards the two and both hunters scrambled to dodge, knowing that if they were hit, they would be quickly frozen in place. Nero easily reached up and pulled himself towards the chandelier's chain, the ice harmlessly passing around him in a circle.

Dante however had no way of dodging all of the ice. He was forced to dash around the ice flowers that appeared on the floor. Escaping the deadly ice flowers, he saw that a part of his jacket had started to freeze over and was quickly reaching outwards to both pin him to the floor and incapacitate him in a block of ice. He hit it with Rebellion, smashing the ice and watching it scatter into the air. _I guess with this many demons around, I really can't afford to recklessly move. _

Nero, meanwhile, was trying to find a way to get back down and into the fight again. _Shit. _He thought to himself. _I'll have to swing over to the top floor. There's no way I can just drop down with all that ice below me, and I'm not going to wait for it to go away._ He swung his weight back and forth before making one last push forward. With a soft 'hup', he let go of the chain and leaped forward. Hitting the ground and rolling to lessen the impact, he heard Dante laughing. Leaning over the edge, Nero looked down at him.

"Hey kid!" He yelled and Nero looked at him in confusion. "You looked hilarious hanging there, and that swing was grade A. I guess a monkey really does suit you."

"Are you ever going to let that drop, old man?" Nero yelled back, feeling a slight blush creep over his face in anger. "I'd appreciate it if you'd stop comparing me to animals!" He leaped down and grabbed onto a Frost. "And stop calling me kid, damn it! My name is Nero. Unless your memory is getting that bad, old man!" He said as he threw the Frost towards Dante, his frustration with him overpowering the fact that he just threw a demon at his companion.

With a laugh Dante cut through the demon and pointed his sword back at Nero. "What, and miss the banter? Naw."

With that they made quick work of the remaining demons. Most of them had to enter the cocoons of ice they made to rest up and those that didn't were pulled in and cut down. Nero would swing them around himself before tossing them into the others; Dante simply used brute force to cut them down, appearing suddenly in front of them only to hack away at them. They finished off the last two with a yell that echoed around the hall as they sheathed their swords. They turned towards the middle and met each other in front of the fallen chandelier.

"So how many did you get?" Nero asked Dante with a smirk. He pointed a thumb at his chest and stood up a little straighter. "I got at least twenty of them myself."

"Twenty, is that all? I killed thirty of them easily. I guess you're treating me to lunch, kid." Dante hit him lightly on the shoulder.

Nero's arm slowly moved away from his chest and his chest fell with a sigh. "Fine you win. But why were there so many in one place?" He asked, quickly changing the subject as he looked around. He was a man just like Dante and didn't like his pride being hurt. "Usually I've only come across four or five at a time. This was a non-stop assault of over fifty of them. You can't deny that it's a bit strange."

Dante scratched the back of his head thoughtfully and shrugged his shoulders. "Well there is still quite a bit of demonic energy stirring around here. It tends to attract demons and devils alike; you've probably felt it as an odd pulling sensation in your chest and making you feel compelled to come here right?"

Nero nodded slowly and turned in a slow circle. "Now that you've mentioned it, it does feel like something in here is calling to me. Even odder is the feeling of...familiarity?...that is coming with it, like someone I know is calling out to me. I didn't feel it before since it's so faint, but it's there none the less."

"Yep, it would make sense that you'd feel something like that, power calls to power. And with as much energy that is left here, there may be a demon nest being built here. I think we may have just taken out most of it here, but there's bound to be more. There always is." He could feel himself becoming slightly giddy with anticipation and the thrill of battles to come. If there really was a nest here, then he could get in a good workout and try out new combos. It had been a while since he had come upon a nest of demons and to find one here was just luck. Even better was that he didn't have to hold back while fighting. The castle was beyond repair as it was and the townspeople were going to stay far away from any place they knew demons resided.

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><p>It was really hard for me to find a good drop off place here, so that's why this chapter is much longer. *Gets back to work on the next chapter* Fortuna Castle...I HATE YOU!<p> 


	4. Discoveries

Okay, so this is a much smaller chapter than usual, but it needed to be; what with the last one being hard to cut off and the cut off point for this one...i probably could have put the two together, but I personally dislike one long chapter stuck in between shorter ones. Therefore!, you get this...awkwardly starting chapter to compliment the awkwardly ending last chapter. BTW, funny thing. I just got done uploading the last chapter only to go work on this one when I saw that I had already 'fixed' it to my liking! So..PARTY!

Disclaimer...I really shouldn't have to do this now should I?

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><p>"So shall we continue where we were before being interrupted?" Nero asked, quirking an eyebrow at Dante.<p>

"Yeah, might as well. It's not as if they are going to come looking for us." Dante said, taking off towards one of the doors. "Maybe we'll just do a quick sweep of this floor before heading down to the lab. I figure that's where most of them would be anyways."

"Sounds good to me."

They entered the door on the right on the first floor and began walking towards the opposite end of the wing. As they passed through, they began reminiscing about the giant toads they had fought there.

"And the ugly thing just kept on spitting that nasty stuff every time he opened his big mouth. It got all over me, and the smell, now that stayed with me for a while. I was really glad the fight was outside; if it was inside I think the smell alone would have killed me." Nero said as he snuck a look into the dining room. It was clear so he shut the door and they headed onwards.

"At least there was a show before they showed up. Those two lovely ladies dangling from their antenna gave you a nice performance before the toad jumped out and tried to eat you right?" Dante asked. As Nero blushed a deep red, Dante laughed. "From the way that you're acting I guess I was right. It wasn't too bad for a demon's trap, and if their size wasn't just for showing off, it looked like it was working. Though how anyone could ignore that smell is beyond me."

"And if they did? It doesn't matter now since they are dead and gone, so can we just drop it already?" Nero growled. He was uncomfortable talking about the female demons out loud and had refrained from even thinking about them. It made him feel like he was cheating on Kyrie when Dante was talking about it.

"So you didn't fall for it then. Glad to know that you had enough common sense to not just drool over them. That means in the future you won't do so either, I hope." Dante told him, as they turned left to enter the small entryway before the next room. Opening the door, they paused just inside the room and were struck silent by the sight of the insides. Both of them had forgotten that these doors lead to a torture chamber and that there had been bodies rotting in the cages that hung from the ceiling. There were holes in the cages that still hung and others were torn apart completely, the twisted, rusting metal littering the watery floor. The flesh from the bodies was gone, no doubt picked clean by any hungry demons that wandered here, leaving just a few bones to show that the chamber had been used at all.

"I guess they've been through here." Dante said looking around and skirting the water. "But how long ago were they here and where are they now?" He stepped carefully around the cages and stopped at the opposite door. Pointing first to the stairs then to the hole in the floor, Dante continued. "It doesn't look like we can get through here and there is nothing down there except a tree trunk, rubble and more water."

"Well that stairway just leads to the walkway above us." Nero said looking up at the deadly spikes poised above his head as he followed closely behind. He picked his way across towards where Dante was standing to look down with him. The drop was enormous and he remembered having to go down there to find a crystallized wing. He could even see the gyroscope still lying broken at the bottom. "Then the walkway above goes to a bedroom by the graveyard. There's no real sense in trying to get acro…"

Nero was abruptly cut off as Dante pushed him into the pit and then jumped down himself, grabbing onto the flailing Nero and righting him quicker than he could do himself. They landed easily in the ankle-deep water below and as soon as Nero stood up, he rounded on Dante.

"What the hell was that for, old man? At least give some warning to a guy when you're going to pull a stunt like that. What if..." But Nero stopped talking mid-sentence for the second time in a minute as he watched Dante slowly kneel down and pick up something that was draped across the tree's roots. Dante stood back up and turned and Nero could see that he was clutching a short and ragged looking yellow ribbon in his hand. Something inside of him told him that the ribbon was actually longer than just the short strip and that it had been part of a decoration, not just a bit of torn fabric.

As Nero looked away from his hand and at Dante's face, he almost unconsciously took a step back in surprise. He had never seen Dante have so many emotions cross his face in such a short amount of time. He saw pain, sadness, regret and, to Nero's surprise, guilt. It passed over his face and Dante looked up to see Nero staring at him with concern. Dante gripped the scrap tighter and forced a grin on his face. Both of them knew it was only there to try and push back the memories that were locked away.

"This.." Dante started, then coughed lightly to clear his throat. The emotions that threatened to overwhelm him were almost too much, and he didn't want Nero to know what he was feeling. Not that he didn't suspect that the kid already had somewhat of an idea, but feigning ignorance was always better than saying the wrong thing. "This," He said, starting over, "was my brother's. It was part of the decoration on his sword." He took a deep breath and decided to tell the kid exactly why he had wanted Yamato in the first place. He gestured vaguely towards Nero's right arm, the scrap of cloth fluttering slightly with the motion. "It decorated the saya of his sword, Yamato. The same sword that is resting in your right arm, Nero." He started to continue, but stopped when he saw that Nero was staring intently at the piece of fabric again.

"Dante, can I see that?" Nero asked hesitantly. He didn't know if he was right in asking if he could look at it, but there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he knew this cloth. Dante shrugged and handed it over, carefully putting it into Nero's outstretched left hand. He closed his fist around it as if he was afraid of breaking it and brought it closer to him. As he slowly opened his fist, his suspicions were confirmed. The cloth was familiar and he knew even without running his finger across it that it was made of silk. He looked back up at Dante, his eyes wide. "Dante."

"Yeah kid? What's up?" He took the scrap back when Nero handed it to him and, stuffing it in his pants pocket, watched as Nero dug around his pockets and patted himself, clearly searching for something. "What are you looking for?" He watched him double check all of his pockets again while muttering out loud.

"Now where did that go, I remember putting it somewhere before we headed out earlier today." He stopped and put his head down in thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers and brought his left wrist in front of his face. "I know where I put it." He undid the straps of the thick leather bracelet around his wrist, fumbling slightly at the thin straps with his devil bringer fingers. As the last strap came loose, he slid the bracelet off and offered his arm to Dante. Nero stepped forward as Dante's fingers closed tightly around his wrist and pulled. Nothing was said for a minute as they both stared at it.

"Where did you get this?" Dante breathed as he continued staring, turning Nero's wrist this way and that to make sure he was not just seeing things. He felt Nero shrug slightly and Dante tore his eyes away from his wrist to meet Nero's eyes. The kid shifted uncomfortably under the intense gaze and when he failed to say anything, Dante repeated his question again, tightening his grip slightly. "Nero, I asked you a question. Now answer it. Where. Did. You. Get. This?"

"I...I really don't know. I've had it for as long as I can remember." He looked back down at his wrist. "I was told by someone that when the Order found me, I was holding onto it like my life depended upon it. The only thing they could get out of me was that I had gotten it from someone that was important to me and I would never let it go. But now..." He trailed off and shrugged his shoulders again.

Twisted around multiple times and tied securely around Nero's wrist was a long strip of faded golden fabric. It matched the one now residing in Dante's pocket perfectly and they both now knew that they were a set. A million questions bounced in their heads, yet they all went unspoken. But one question kept repeating itself over and over again.

Why did Nero have a strip of cloth that belonged to Vergil, and what was the connection?

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><p>BA..BA..BADUM! PLOT! IT THICKENS! ONWARDS TO THE NEXT!<p> 


	5. Dreaming of Hanging Onto

Yay! I'm just blazing through these now. I've been pretty happy with this chapter although it may seem choppy. This is meant to be a flashback/dream, therefore bits and pieces are suppose to be missing. It's how it was remembered.

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><p>The sound of a battle coming to a close permeated the air as a young man and his comrades struggled to push back the few demons that remained from the horde that had filled the streets of the small town an hour before. The screams of the escaping townsfolk reached his ears as he blocked a blow from one of the creatures and, as he killed it with a quick swipe of his sword, took a second to look around. Multiple buildings were on fire and he watched as the soldiers ushering the terrified people out pausing only to dispatch the advancing enemies before continuing on with their job. The demons that had invaded the town were rumored to be ones released long ago by the appearance of a massive tower in the neighboring country two years ago.<p>

The soldier decided to go back into the town one last time to search for more survivors and he took off at a run, readjusting the grip on the sword in his hand. He searched every alleyway and house that he could get to on his search and thankfully found no one. He kept walking, jumping over the rubble that lined the streets. The fire hadn't reached the main intersection yet, so there was a higher chance of finding someone left here. As he jumped over the last crumbled wall before stepping onto Main Street, he could already see a young child dressed in a sweatshirt with the hood pulled up and jeans standing a few blocks down, his head in his hands. The child's shoulders were shaking as he sobbed. As the man started towards him, he saw a demon on the rooftops looking cautiously at the kid.

When he was halfway there, he panicked as he watched the demon jump down from the roof above the kid. Before he could speed up his run, the demon landed next to the child and drew its claws back to swipe at him. The soldier could only manage a half yelp of a warning before a blue light flashed, so bright the young man had to turn his head. When he could turn back and look, the demon was gone and the kid was still standing, but he could now hear him sobbing louder and the soldier watched him sit down on the sidewalk and curl up around himself. The young soldier looked around cautiously and when he couldn't see any more demons, he resumed running towards him.

When he was next to the boy he knelt down and reached out, lightly putting his hands on his shoulder. "Hey, kid. Are you alright?" The boy started and turned to him, his bright blue eyes wide and full of tears. The soldier got a glance of white hair before the boy launched himself at him, wrapping his small arms around him and continued sobbing. The soldier put his arm that wasn't gripping his sword around the boy and picked him up. "Let's get you out of here, alright?"

The boy struggled in his arms for a second, looking around at the surrounding area. "Mo…mother. What about my mother?" He looked into the soldier brown eyes. "I told Father that I would watch over Mother while he was gone. Who is going to protect her in my place?"

"She's probably already made it out of the town. Let's go meet up with everyone who's gotten out, ok?" When the kid didn't say anything and just kept looking back, the soldier decided to keep talking to help calm the kid. "You can stay with me until we find her, okay? I'll watch over you until then, and if we don't find her, you can come home with me. I live in the next town over." The young boy nodded and settled down. "My name's Credo by the way. What's yours?" They continued walking out of town and the demons were somehow gone. It seemed like he and his comrades had successfully cleared out the invasion.

The kid sniffled and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "My name is Nero and I am 5 years old." He said this as proudly as any kid his age could. He looked down at the ground then back to Credo and his sword. "Um, I can walk so you don't have to carry me. Then you can get rid of any of the scary monsters that come out."

Credo smirked which changed to a warm smile as he put him down. Nero walked beside him, but Credo did not miss the fact that the boy had grabbed tightly onto his coat. "Well Nero, you're very mature for your age. I think you would get along very well my little sister, Kyrie. She's about the same age as you..."

The two of them made it out of the town without further incident, but when they looked through the survivors, they could not locate Nero's mother. The young boy broke down and kept crying until Credo knelt down and took him in his arms, hugging him until his sobs subsided. Credo asked Nero if he had any other family living here and when he shook his head no, he told him again if he wanted to come live with him and his sister, they would gladly take him in. He nodded and after a quick talk with his superior, took Nero back to Fortuna with him.

When they arrived in town, Credo told Nero he would take him to the Order to get cleaned up since he had to put together a report. They arrived and a woman who was part of the medical team took Nero off to the side, directing him to a small room. When they entered, she asked him if he wouldn't mind her helping him wash up. He blushed and nodded, and as she started to undress him down to his underclothes, he took something from his pocket and secretly held it in his right hand. The woman picked him up, set him in a warm, soapy bath and started to scrub him clean with a washcloth. She commented on his pretty white hair and blue eyes, making Nero blush even deeper. When she started to clean his arms, she noticed his clenched fist.

"Hun, I'll need you to open your hand so I can wash it." He shook his head quickly and she gently grabbed his hand. "Can you let go of what you're holding for just a few minutes? It won't take long and then maybe we can get that cleaned off too." He still shook his head no and she frowned. Setting the washcloth down to the side, she knelt by the tub and looked at him gently. "Why won't you set it down for just a bit? I promise you nothing bad will happen to it."

He shook his head and brought his hands together in front of him, protecting the object in his hands. "No, I can't. I can't lose this it was a gift. I will never let it go."

The woman nodded and sat back on her heels. "Well then how about this. I won't make you give it up, but how about I wash this hand, then you can switch it over and I'll wash your other one. Then you can clean it yourself." He nodded and held out his empty hand. She gently washed it and when he switched hands she saw a flash of yellow. She watched as he dipped the color into the water and swirl it about for a few seconds. When he brought it back out, she saw that it was a ribbon.

"That's a really pretty colored ribbon. Would you like me to tie that around your wrist for you? Then it won't get lost so easily." He nodded and handed it to her carefully. He watched her like a hawk the whole time as she gently wiped it dry before setting it off to the side so she could dry him off. She knew he was getting nervous without it on him so she quickly picked him up out of the tub and towel-dried him off. She then grabbed the ribbon and his right arm, the one that she had first seen him holding the ribbon in, looping it around several time before tying it off. "There you go, now you won't lose it. Now we just have to find you some clothes to wear."

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><p>Argh! Another short chapter! Next one will be better..okay?<p> 


	6. Will You Answer My Questions?

Holey Hells in a bonnet it's an update. It is currently..6:23 AM when I am writing this and I have been awake since...3ish, plus I have to work 8:30-4:30 today (yay for exhaustion!). I wrote half of this in a sickness and medicine induced haze...so I apologize in advance for any..oddities that are in here. Anyways..go reread the first few chapters! Please! With the exception of a few places where I could not word it right and the last chapter, which was meant to be written that way, quite a bit has been added and some changed. Anywho, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Seriously, if they want to make a big deal out of it, I'll just keep it all in my head.

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><p>Nero's head bobbed up and down as he napped against the wall in the bedroom next to the torture chambers, Red Queen resting against the wall next to him. Dante was sitting on the edge of the bed, his weapons lying on the bed next to him and the ragged yellow ribbon grasped in his hand.<p>

When he first met Nero, he had known after fighting him that he was not like the other soldiers of Fortuna. He had realized right away that Nero had demonic blood in him and after seeing him wielding Yamato, knew that Nero was somehow connected to his brother. But the thought of Vergil loving someone enough to have a child with her had seemed like such a stretch to him that he almost couldn't believe it. Almost. Though he couldn't deny it anymore as proof of it had stared him in the face.

He looked back over at Nero who was twitching slightly in his sleep. He started to mumble something indistinguishable and shifted, reaching up with his devil arm to scratch at his face.

That was another thing Dante wanted to ask Nero about. What had happened to him that his powers had awakened? He hoped that it was nothing compared to what had happened to him. He put his hand on his torso as he remembered Vergil stabbing him first with Yamato in the gut, then with Rebellion in his chest as he laid bleeding out and dying in the rain. That had hurt so much, but the rush afterwards; there was nothing that could even match it. Chuckling slightly he remembered leaping off the top of the tower and fighting the winged demons as he literally ran down the side of the building. He leaned back and stared at the paintings on the wall as he recounted his awaking. The leaps he could make and the speed he found he could run and fight at had made him lose himself in the thrill of fighting, but the leviathan swallowing him whole quickly interrupted his fun.

Caught up in his memories, he failed to hear Nero wake up and whisper softly, '_Mother, where did you go?'_ He moved his arm and brushed up against Red Queen, causing it to rock and the handle slipped slightly. The noise started Dante who reacted out of instinct and had Ebony and Ivory pointed at Nero before he realized what made the noise. He pulled his guns up and put them back down on the bed slowly.

"Sorry about that one kid, you caught me daydreaming." He sighed and looked away from Nero who had frozen on the spot, his hand halfway to Blue Rose. Nero lifted an eyebrow and slowly moved his hand back. He readjusted Red Queen and shifted so he was looking at Dante better.

"What's on your mind that you allowed your guard to slip? From the little that I know you, I've never seen you startled like that." They sat in silence for a minute, Dante debating if he should ask questions and Nero wondering about his past.

Finally Dante spoke up. "Nero." He turned his head at looked at him. Nero was looking at him, anticipating him to ask a stream of questions. Dante took a breath and continued. "I know that you have many questions. So do I, but I'm not sure if this is the time..."

"What do you mean this isn't the time? If we won't talk now, then when will we?" Nero accused as he stood up. "These questions won't just go away. I finally find someone who can tell me about my family, and now you're going to put off telling me?" His voice was becoming louder as he became angrier. "I want to know if you're really my uncle and if your brother is really my father! Wouldn't you want to know who your family is, and if they are still alive?" He slammed his fist into the bedside table, smashing it to pieces. He stared at the broken wood angrily before turning away, throwing his hands up in frustration. His arm pulsed, first dimly then spreading until his upper body was surrounded in a blue halo of light. He hadn't trigged, but his emotions were strong enough that the aura was emitting from him. Nero failed to notice in his frustration at the lack of answers just how deep that last statement cut for Dante. _Of course_ Dante would want to know if Vergil was still alive.

"Damn it Nero. I know. I know you want answers. But," Dante said, his brow furrowed in frustration as he stood up. "if you want answers, you've got to stop glowing like a like a strip club and calm down." He spread his arms out, looking back at Nero. "I just don't want you to get your hopes up, and there are other things we need to talk about and do first. Now calm down, or every demon left here is going to come running, if they aren't already. Any of them worth anything would've sensed you by now and although some many be running away, most will come here looking for a fight."

Nero took a few breaths as he attempted to calm down. He turned around and looked at Dante. "A strip club. Seriously? Was that all you could think of?" Dante only shrugged in response as Nero's aura dimmed. "So does this mean we'll talk right now?"

Dante ran a hand through his hair, closing his eyes in exhaustion as he did so, missing the look of remembrance that crossed Nero's face. "Dante, do that again."

"Do what again? Compare you to a strip club?"

"No. Just, just humor me with this. Push your hair back again."

Dante looked confused for a second before realization dawned on his face. His brother had always pushed his hair out of his eyes and when Dante had run his hand through his hair, it must have mimicked the look of his brother. He did as he was asked and Nero sucked in a breath.

"Dante, please. I don't need all of them answered right now. I just want to know what you think. Is it possible?"

"It..." He started and then shook his head. "Yeah. It's probably possible. We ar...were twins, and if he wore his hair back like that and you recognized it with me, then yes."

"Why did you start saying are then switched to were?" Nero asked apprehensively.

"He died. A few years back. I'm not going to go into details about though. Too many memories, not all of them good." Dante said as he sunk back onto the bed. "You just need to know that he died."

Nero sat on the bed next to him, his head down and hands in his lap. "Well." Dante turned his head and looked at him from the corner of his eyes. "That...well, sucks, I guess." The corners of his mouth twitched and small smile spread across his face. "So does this mean I have to call you Uncle Dante from now on?" He said as he turned his head to look at Dante.

"Hell no. That just doesn't sound right and there is no way I'm calling you 'my nephew Nero'. You'll just be 'kid' to me anyways."

"Yeah, and you'll always be 'old man'."

"Technically I'm really not that old at all, so I'd be happy if you quit poking fun at my age." Dante said as he shook his finger at Nero.

"So how old are you actually. The white hair really doesn't help for me to guess your age, seeing as only old men and us have it."

"Let's see." Dante said, glad for the change in conversation. It may just be meaningless chatter to some, but for him he knew it could be Nero's way of getting to know him. Now that he knew he had family and was no longer an orphan, he was going to make sure to not miss a thing. "I believe I'm about...38, or so."

"Or so? Is age something you really don't remember?"

"Well you see it's like this. Being part demon, I really don't age as fast as others once I reach a certain age. It has something to do with the regenerative properties of the demon blood or some other mumbo jumbo. I never really understood why, I just know it is. But I'm still young when you compare me to other devils. If you remember, my father Sparda sealed this world off from the demon world over 2,000 years ago. My brother and I obviously weren't born way back then, so I figure since my dad was still pretty young looking, we hit our prime and we don't age as fast anymore."

Nero hung his head and breathed a deep sigh. "So does this mean that I will outlive Kyrie? Will I have to watch her grow old while I stay this young?" A single tear rolled down his cheek, hidden from Dante. Outliving the people you love would feel like a curse. No wonder Dante didn't keep in contact with many people. He didn't want to watch them grow old and die without him.

Dante realized what Nero was thinking and lightly put his hand on Nero's shoulder. "No. You probably have less demon blood in you, so you may age just as fast as she does." He tightened his grip on Nero's shoulder lightly as the kid nodded in understanding. It was tough to come to the understanding that everyone will die naturally before you, whether it would be from old age, a sickness, or an accident. "Well, I've had just about enough depressing thoughts to last me a few years. Why don't we go and see what type of demons you attracted with your glowing? Or do you want to ask anything else?"

Nero ran the back of his left hand across his eyes, clearing them of the tears that managed to leak free with a small chuckle. "No, I'm happy for now. It's nice to know that I finally found my family, even if it is my idiot of an uncle." A smile spread across Nero's face. "Heh, I have an uncle."

Dante rolled his eyes and stood up, rustling Nero's hair before turning around to grab his weapons. "Yeah, you do have an uncle. One that's going to out shine you in kicking demon ass."

"Like hell you will." Nero said as he stood up also, shaking his head to make his hair lie flat again. "You'll just get distracted by something and I'll have to come save your ass."

"That's got to be one hell of a distraction then." Dante said as he walked around the bed. "Let's get going then. Time to show these weaklings what happens when you mess with our family!" With that Dante kicked opened the doors leading to the abandoned cemetery.

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><p>So a lot of this just wrote itself out. And I touch up on one of the reasons I wouldn't want to be immortal or live an extended life. Seeing everyone else die around you? That seriously would suck. And I'm not really sorry for the emotions that they show here. Some of it was awkward to portray, seeing as I've never been an orphan and suddenly found my family, nor am I a creature with a long life expectancy, one that will out live many others. So just enjoy! As always, review please or drop me a pm. especially if you don't understand something! I love reading them and if something isn't coming across right, I'll try and make it understandable.<p>

*goes and tries to pass out till work


	7. There's a First For Everything

Tons of thanks to both Nefarious Seraph 13 for listening to my mild rant in a pm about choices and general zargon for reminding me about A&R again, how awesome they were and the constant reviews. You guys seriously have no idea how much it brightens my day to see a new review for this. I'm not kidding when I say I squeal with excitement and dance. And a late answer for the reviewer who was I. Yes, I did watch LOTR, and that scene was playing in my head as I wrote that. It seemed very natural for them to argue like that! And I got done with this quite early and it's been sitting here, waiting to be uploaded...so I gave in and I'm putting it up a tad bit early. ENJOY!

*sighs* Nope. Nothing yet, still don't own it.

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><p>The doors flew open and as they broke off and bounced down the stairs and hitting the statue. There was nothing but the snow on the ground and the silence of the graveyard to greet them.<p>

"Huh?" Dante said as he blinked a few times, his breath fogging in the cold air. "Where are they?"

"Where are who? Were you expecting an audience or what?" Nero said as he stepped through the hole that was the doorway, his breath puffing out in small clouds. He bypassed Dante who was staring disappointed at the area and headed down the steps. "Come on, through that door should be the courtyard. If we head through there we can cut back around to the hallways." Nero stopped and looked back at Dante when he realized the elder hadn't moved an inch. "Are you sensing something?"

"I'm not sure. Whatever it is doesn't mean us any harm, I hope." Dante said as he started forward. "I thought that there were demons out here, but I don't see any, though I guess I may be wrong." He said as he pulled Ebony and Ivory out and pointed them above the door leading to the courtyard. "Isn't that right?" Nero whipped around, pulling out Blue Rose and stared where Dante was pointing his guns. Slowly coming out from its hiding place was a figure clad in the white armor of the Order. As it looked down on them, it made no attempt to charge at them or harm them in anyway. With a last look it turned and leaped over the wall, descending into the courtyard.

Nero took a step towards it before stopping himself and turning to Dante. "So are we going to go after it? Whatever it was, it didn't move like the other armors I've encountered."

Dante stayed silent for a moment before speaking. "Yeah. Let's see where this baby wants us to go." They took off, passing by the statue before the air became electrically charged. With that small warning, the two of them rolled away from where they were about to step and not a second too soon. A bolt of lighting hit the ground as Dante rolled over the small cliff by the tree and Nero ducked behind a grave marker and the two watched as a second bolt struck the ground near the first. Two Blitzes suddenly appeared and let out a loud roar, challenging the hidden opponents to a fight. Neither of them dared to move, knowing that although blind, the demons had excellent hearing. They sat there in sight of each other and watched the two foes paced back and forth in an attempt to find their quiet opponents. Nero watched Dante slowly raise his guns and hold out three fingers. With a nod, Nero slowly moved to grab his handgun. He understood that on the count of three, they would start their assault on the demons, hoping to catch them off guard and gain the upper hand.

He shifted slightly and the snow underneath his crunched lightly. With a jerk, both demons looked his way and turned towards him. Cursing himself slightly, he looked at Dante who nodded back at him, only one finger up now. He dropped it and they both stood up, unloading bullets at the electrical fields surrounding them. The two Blitzes jerked back and forth as the bullets hit them but otherwise shrugged them off. One of them tensed and leaped towards Nero, causing him to pause mid-shot to dodge underneath the demon. As it passed over him he shot into its torso, accidentally releasing a powered up shot. The demon landed hard and staggered to get back up, its shields greatly lowered.

"Dante! I think I found a way to lower the shields faster!" Nero cried as he focused on pouring energy into his gun. Dante dodged the Blitz that had focused on him and looked in time to watch Nero unleash another powered-up shot. It connected and the demon stumbled again, the glow that covered its body completely gone. With a laugh of triumph Nero reached out with his devil arm and pulled himself towards the demon. Dante watched as he threw kicks and punches at the demon before he had to turn back to his own fight. With a smirk he copied what Nero had done, charging up both Ebony and Ivory with his demonic energy before unloading several clips worth into his foe as it jumped towards him. The bullets collided with it in mid-air, making it jerk from the impacts as it hung suspended. Once Dante saw that the shield was down, he ceased firing and finally jumped back up onto the higher ground. The demon had made it so he was stuck down below with no way to help Nero if he needed it by blocking his path with bolts of lighting and its body. He looked over to see Nero working on lowering the shields of his again before turning back to the felled demon. It was struggling to get back up and charge at Dante when he raced towards it, pulling Rebellion off his back. He dashed right up into its face and pushed it back, making it stumble more before unleashing a barrage of slashes, too fast for the eyes to see. With the last hit, he launched it up into the air and planted his front foot, bringing his back one up and holding Rebellion like a baseball bat.

"Homerun!" He yelled swinging hard, his blade cutting through the demon's torso as it let out a yell of agony. It leaped back, glowing red before running out of energy and writhing around in pain. With a final ear-piercing screech it exploded, the body disintegrating before it could stain the snow. As he looked around to find Nero, he saw that the other one had disappeared and Nero was staring intently at the steps.

"Is it behind there?" He asked and Nero nodded.

"Yeah, I just about had it then it backed off under there. Want to help me get finish it so we can head out?"

"Sure. I'll head right and you go left. Whoever it doesn't go for needs to back up the other. We don't want to get caught by it." Dante said as walked slowly towards the underpass, both guns up and glowing slightly with a charge in his hands; Nero sidestepping with Blue Rose held in his left, his right arm glowing in preparation for a shot. As they neared the underpass and lost sight of each other, they could hear the demon growling in a low echoing tone. They both were tense; not knowing whom it would choose to go after. Suddenly Nero heard Dante swear loudly and a short scuffle in the snow followed.

"Nero! Stay there! It's going to go!"

"What happened to backing the other up?" Nero cried as he dashed around the corner. What he saw made him stop dead in his tracks. Dante was constantly dodging the angry, red demon, avoiding being caught in its claws. The demon turned as Nero shouted and took one final dive towards him. He took a step back to move out of the way and ran into the wall.

In his surprise he turned and looked, taking his eyes off of the threat in front of him for a split second. The next thing he knew, he was pushed out of the way and Dante was caught in its grip. In a flash of red light both the demon and Dante disappeared and Nero turned his face towards the ground to shield his eyes from the bright lights. When he looked back up, he was alone in the graveyard. "Dante?" He said, getting up and brushing the snow off. He walked towards the front of the steps and called out again into the graveyard. "Are you okay?"

A rough, low voice answered him from underneath the steps. "Yeah, I'm fine kid. Just...stay where you are for a second."

"Dante what..?" Nero asked as he turned back around and started to walk towards the voice. "Your voice sounds...off. Are you sure you're not hurt or anything?"

"I'm fine now just STAY THERE." Nero stopped and backed up a few steps, hurt flashing across his face. If Dante was hurt and needed help right away, then Nero was the only one who was there. Why was Dante telling him to back off? He heard a grunt of pain before Dante walked out from underneath the stairs. "See? I'm all fine and dandy. Now let's get going. And I'll tell you after we take care of that armor okay?" He said as Nero opened his mouth to speak.

"Another one of those long stories for another time?" He asked as they walked towards the door. Dante nodded and Nero sighed. "You know, one of these days you'll have to tell me everything. Well, almost everything." He added after a look from Dante.

"I will, don't worry." Was all Dante said in return. He took off towards the door and Nero trailed behind him, wondering what it was Dante didn't want him to see.

With a shrug he shook it off as they walked through the door and into the middle of the courtyard. There was no longer a blizzard raging in the small space, the demons causing it last time being long dead. He looked around at the still frozen ground, passing over a hole in the ground before noticing the ruined sudo-Hell gate that resided here. As he surveyed it, a slight sense of familiarity gripped his chest before he shook it off. He deemed it was from the fight he had here and it was just his memories in his head. Turning his head and looking at Dante over his shoulder, he spoke. "Hey Dante. If all the Gates were run by Devil Arms, then what was the one powering this one?"

"Hm?" Dante said as he turned to look at Nero. He had been busy looking for that armor that had disappeared into here earlier. "Oh, a briefcase." He said before turning back around with a dismissive wave and resuming his search.

Nero looked at him like he was pulling his leg. "A briefcase. Right. So what was it really?" He said as he started to look around also. There was no telling where that armor would attack from and he had determined that Dante was also keeping an eye out for it. He thought he spotted a flash of white on the upper level and was scanning the air above them.

"I told you, kid. It was a briefcase." He said. "Possibly the most bad ass briefcase out there. It could..." He started to explain before cutting off. "Tell you what, I'll show you later when we're done here." He said as he spotted the armor watching them from the walkway above them. "We've got company now."

"Yeah, I see." Nero responded as the armor jumped down to their level. "So," He said, speaking to the armor and spreading his arms out. "Are you just going to stand there staring at us? Cause we got a job to do if you're not going to do anything."

Dante slowly walked around the armor to look at it better, wary as the helmet turned to watch him. "You know, the Order is no longer here. They've been disbanded, split up, dispersed; choose your favorite and that's them. So why don't you just disappear?"

"Yo..." The two hunters stopped as the armor spoke.

"That's a first." Nero said as the armor continued its attempt to speak and continuing to watch Dante closely. "Didn't know they could speak."

"Da,.." The armor tried again, giving up on the first word. "Dan...te...Dante."

Said man took a step back and whistled. "Man, do I have fans all over? Sorry pal, I'm a ladies man only." He said, putting his hands up in mock apology. "I've got no time for...whatever it is you are."

This only seemed to enrage it even more and as they watched, the armor reached behind its back and pulled two ivory colored swords out from where they had sat crossed underneath its wings. With a yell it swung both swords horizontally at Dante who dodged it by flipping backwards onto his hands before springing up again and landing on Nero's right. Pulling Rebellion off his back and seeing Nero do the same with Red Queen, Dante set the tip of his sword onto the ground.

"Two against one hardly seems fair, doesn't it?" Nero said as he revved the handle of his sword. The high-pitched whirling echoed in the courtyard and Dante laughed over the noise.

"Just makes it that much more interesting then. 'Sides, weapons-wise we're even."

The armor raised its weapons and held them ready out in front of it, holding one out in front of the other. The hunters saw that the two swords were about 3 feet each in length and grew wider towards the point before tapering off. A small spike of metal jutted out from half way down the point. A short chain hung from the cross-guard of both swords and the end of the hilt was decorated like a demon's head.

"We'll just have to see if it knows how to use what its got." Dante said tauntingly, and with a yell the three rushed towards each other.

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><p>So the swords here are based off from a kampilan, ( en. wikipedia. orgwiki /Kampilan ). I had been browsing around and finally stumbled upon these. It seemed to fit where I had wanted to go with this, so here they are. I decided to go with twin swords (something I had wanted from the beginning) and I really wanted to incorporate a bow into here. Thought about it and realized that it would not work how I wanted it to. Right now I'm struggling to not upload this now (it's only been two days, currently the 22), so I'm going to go work on the next chapter before I do. Enjoy and thanks again for all the help. BTW, just going to say it now 'cause it's been in my head all day...BOSS BATTLE! *cue epic music!* ...eep... Btw, just saw a new trailer for DmC. Eeeyep..I've changed my mind on it. I'm definitely going to buy it. I just really hope they take out the 'last kill in slow motion' mechanic. It irritated me to see it in Enslaved and I know it's going to irritate me here too.


	8. Battle Time? Battle Time

"We'll just have to see if it knows how to use what its got." Dante said tauntingly, and with a yell the three rushed towards each other. The screech of metal on metal permeated the air as the swords clashed. Dante and Nero swung their swords down diagonally and the armor blocked both of them, struggling with the full weight of two very large swords bearing down on it. With a grunt, it pushed off the weight of Rebellion from its left sword and threw Dante a few feet away. With the newly freed sword, it swung at Nero, who blocked it with his right arm; the sword bounced off and Nero pushed away, retreating back to stand by Dante again.

They clashed again and again, every time their swords bouncing off of each other with a loud clang, managing only glancing blows and lucky strikes on both parties. Dante rushed forward just as Nero was thrown off and swung one handed at the armor, its attention focused on throwing Nero off. It connected with the armor and Dante felt his blade shake from the impact. What ever the armor it was wearing was made of, it was enough to stand up to a moderate hit from Rebellion. The armor noticed Dante then and with a quick snap of its leg, kicked at him. Dante was forced to bring his sword in front of his body quickly and the blow landed on the blade instead of his body. The combatants backed away from each other and paused slightly to rethink of a strategy. Neither side was showing signs of being heavily winded; the few scratches they had obtained were quickly healing.

"This is getting interesting." Dante commented to Nero, who nodded in return.

"Yeah. It doesn't fight like one of the armors Agnus had around here. Maybe it was a prototype for the next generation but didn't break free until now." He watched as the armor paced around them, silently watching. "It doesn't have a glow like the others did either. The parts of its body you can see look different also." He turned towards Dante, keeping one eye on their enemy. "It's also not using its wings as a shield, and even those don't look normal."

As if it heard them talking, the armor snapped its wings open and with a heavy beat of them, launched itself twenty feet into the air. It beat them to stay aloft, watching them from its new position in the air.

"Aw, come on." Dante said. "That's not fair. Say kid, think you can grab it and pull it back down with that arm of yours?"

"Not really. If something's a lot heavier than me, I get pulled towards it. Every time I fought these, I was pulled in."

"So that's out. Guess I'll have to go get it then." Dante said as he ran forward. The armor started flying out of his range as he jumped into the air and concentrated his demonic energy below his feet, creating a platform. He quickly leaped off and dashed towards the armor, catching it off guard as he suddenly appeared in front of it. The two exchanged blows in the air, Dante staying in the air by kicking off from it before dashing forwards again. Nero watched the fight from the ground, blown away by Dante's skills in mid-air fighting. _How long has he been fighting demons to have that level of ability? What I can do is nothing compared to that._ He looked down at himself. _And I once thought I could take him on. How wrong I was. _ He was thrown out of his self pity as Dante yelled at him. "Incoming kid!"

The armor had given up on fighting Dante and was heading straight for him as Dante fell towards the ground. He quickly readied his swords and with a resounding clang, met the swords of the armor. He was pushed backwards towards the hole and with some effort, ducked underneath the armor. It took off into the air again and raced towards Dante who had just landed on the ground and was in the process of standing up. He quickly pulled Rebellion up from his side and blocked the blow from the armor as it flew by him. It landed a few yards away and turned back around, steadily walking towards Dante again.

"Shesh Dante, what did you do to piss this one off? You'd think this armor has something against you."

"If I knew kid, I wouldn't be wondering the same thing." Dante said as he watched the armor advance. Suddenly it charged, sweeping both swords upwards as if to slice Dante in half from the bottom. He blocked the swipe with his sword and was launched into the air, the armor quickly following him up. Once again they traded blows in the air and as Dante managed a severe blow on its arm, it bellowed in rage, blood flowing from the wound. Seeming to disregard its own safety, it pushed Dante in the air towards the hole. As they hovered above it, the armor suddenly tilted towards the ground and steered the two of them into the hole.

Nero yelled as they disappeared and quickly ran to the entrance. He saw them falling, the armor's swords pushing on Dante's, and deciding quickly jumped down, Red Queen held out in front of him. The armor noticed him falling towards him and turned its body, sword in hand. It met Nero's sword and the added downward force accelerated their speed. As they neared the bottom, Nero realized that the safety hatch had been closed and with the speed they were falling, he would be severely injured. He looked at Dante's face and with a small nod of acknowledgement from him, he pushed off from the armor and jumped onto one of the platforms that lined the shaft. As he landed, he heard a loud crash as the two hit the metal doors that closed off the area above the fan.

Nero winced at the sound and looked over the edge at the mess as he swung his sword into its holster. The two had created a large hole in the center of the circle and Nero was left wondering if either had survived. "Dante you ok down there?" He yelled as he jumped down onto the seal then into the hole. He looked around as he heard a door open and watched as the armor fled through it. He was just about to chase after it when he heard a low groan and the shifting of rubble. He turned to watch Dante push aside a piece of metal and stand up from a man-sized dent in the floor.

"Anybody get the number of that bus?" Dante said as he shook his head to clear it and pointed forward. "'Cause I think it just did a hit and run on me."

"Dante this is no time to be making jokes." Dante blinked as he looked at Nero.

"You two, did you manage to get the number? Wait, why are there two of you? Ha! You two look just like my brother and I when we were young!" Nero just rolled his eyes and grabbed Dante's arm.

"Yeah, I did. Now let's go after that armor before it gets too far ahead." Dante allowed himself to be pulled along through the door, trailing Rebellion behind him on the ground. He shook his head again and seemed to come to his senses. He looked at Nero's hand pulling on his arm to the disaster in the door behind him and let out a low whistle.

"Man kid, did I zone out there for a second?" Nero jumped slightly and let go of Dante's arm and kept moving, turning his head to look at him.

"Zone out? I think that's putting it lightly." He said as Dante hefted Rebellion into its holster, turning back to look ahead. "You saw two of me and asked if I got the number of the bus that hit you. I'm surprised you don't have a concussion."

"It's a perk of being half-demon. Injuries don't faze me much. Now, why are we walking down this tunnel like we're trying to win a race?" He asked as he watched Nero speed walking along the path.

"Because that demon slipped through the door when you were off in lala-land and I don't want it to get away." Nero said as he pointed to the ground, where there were splashes of blood dotting the floor. "It's injured and this is the best chance we have of killing it."

Dante nodded and without another word, the two took off at a full sprint, following the blood trail. He secretly praised the kid for his thinking. _He's starting to think things out now, not just chasing after what he's told._ They ran around the bend in the pipe and as they looked towards the door, noticed that it was just closing.

"It hasn't gotten too far ahead!" Nero cried as he speed up. "And if that damn trap is still active, it'll be stuck there for a while!"

"Um, sorry kid. I kind of destroyed that." Dante said as he picked up the pace.

"What?! That was going to be the best spot to finish it off!" Nero said angrily. "Now what are we going to do?"

"Hey! I'm sorry but there was a slight problem with me trying to get through that damn thing. It was called a poisonous gas!" Dante grumbled as they reached the door. They pushed it open and they raced in, guns drawn. They dropped them when the only sight that greeted them was an empty room.

"Where'd it go?" Nero asked. "The door to the lab is still closed, but there is still blood on the floor. It couldn't have just disappeared, could it?" He pointed to the door that was blocked by some debris.

"All we can do now is try and figure out where it went. I'll start over here and you look over there, okay?" Nero nodded and they separated to search for where the demon had gone. As Nero walked around, he felt the sense of familiarity wash over him again. As he neared the divinity statue that stood at the head of the room, the feeling grew slightly. He looked at the ground and noticed that there was a larger puddle blood near the left side and one of the arms of the statue had a bloody handprint on it.

"Look over here Dante. Do you think it could have moved this statue to reach a hidden door? It looks like it's been moved somehow." Dante walked over to him and scrutinized the statue.

"Hm. I wonder what happens if.." Dante said as he rubbed his chin. He reached out and placed his hand on the bloody print and pushed down. An audible click resounded in the chamber and with a grinding noise, a hidden door slid open to their left. The blood trail continued down the path and with a nod at each other, the two headed down, Nero following Dante. He rubbed his right arm as the familiar feeling grew and caused it to glow brightly in the tunnel.

"Say Dante. Does it feel odd to you down here?" He asked.

"Feel odd?" Dante cocked his head to the side and felt around himself. "Not really. All I feel is a demonic aura and you. Why, what are you feeling?" Dante said as they went around a curve in the tunnel.

"Remember when we first got here and I said it felt like something was calling out to me?" Dante nodded and Nero continued. "Well that feeling is getting stronger as we go down this path." He said before hesitating slightly.

"What are you thinking?" Dante asked when Nero stayed silent for a minute.

"I have been feeling like this since we met that armor. For some reason it seems like I know it from my past. You don't think it could be one of my comrades from the Order that got caught up in all of this and trying to get us to help him?"

"If it comes down to that and the only way to save him is to kill him, can you do it Nero?" Dante asked quietly.

"Yeah, I can. If it's the only way." Nero said, strengthening his resolve. They turned one last corner and came upon another door. "Here we are." Nero said as he looked down. "And it looks like it's almost healed up. There's hardly any blood here."

"You're right. Let's head in and finish all of this." Dante said as he opened the door. They copied their actions from the previous room and entered the room with guns drawn. Silence greeted them in the darkened room, lit only by a giant semi-transparent crystal and the machines connected to it in the center of the room. The whole structure was up on a raised platform and as the two walked near, they saw the figure of a person suspended inside. Nero walked forward as Dante circled around and he leaned in to try and make out any features of the figure in the shard. Suddenly his arm gave a great pulse and he stumbled backwards before kneeling down in shock.

"Are you okay?" Dante asked as he poked his head back around. When he said nothing, Dante walked back towards him before kneeling down beside him. "Kid, what happened?"

Nero looked at Dante and took a deep breath, tripping over his words as they rushed out in a desperate attempt to understand what just happened. "I...I recognized who is trapped there. Well, recognized probably isn't the right word, I mean, I can't really see who it is. But that feeling I had been getting suddenly grew stronger and I guess the shock of realizing it just left me speechless. I mean, I know you would have the same reaction finding it out, especially since it can't be possible." Nero took a breath again and Dante interrupted him before he could go on.

"Kid, just tell me what set you off. What do you mean by 'recognized'?"

"I think that it's..." He started before a loud roar cut him off.

The two hunters turned at the sound. The armor roared at them again as it appeared from the darkness. It had abandoned its wing shield and they saw that it had its swords drawn out, ready to punish them for entering the room.

Dante whistled. "I'm starting to think that you don't want us here. Too bad for you we have a fight to finish. So come on!" He said as he clapped his hands, pausing as the lights in the room clicked on. "Huh, would you look at that. They installed a clapper in here."

The demon threw one of its swords at Dante and Nero; both of them nimbly dodged out of the way. Dante pulled Rebellion off his back as the sword imbedding itself in the wall behind him. With a yell it charged at him and the two locked swords once again.

Dante smirked and looked at the demon's helmet-covered face. "So, are you going to tell me what I did to piss you off so much? Did I forget to pay you back or is this revenge for killing family?"

The demon leaned its face inwards towards Dante's, who held his ground as the demon invaded his personal space with a low chuckle. "You should know Dante. It was you who left us in that place to rot and be tortured. For years."

Dante furrowed his brow in confusion. _What was possessing this armor and how did it know him, let alone speak English._ A motion behind the demon caught his eye and his grin grew. "Didn't you forget something? I'm not the only one here."

The armor pulled its head back in surprise as it turned, Red Queen aiming for its head. It jerked to the side as the sword sliced right by its head, missing Dante as he leaped away, and cut through one of the horns that decorated the helmet. The demon leaped back and put a hand up to its head, feeling how close it had come to being hit. It shook its head to adjust itself to the new off-balanced weight of the helmet and held up the sword in its right hand. The two hunters copied the position and as the armor flew towards them, they split away from each other, attempting to catch it between them, Dante on its right and Nero on its unprotected left.

They closed in with a yell when all of a sudden the armor turned fully towards Nero and pushed him back towards the wall where the second sword was buried into the stone, kicking off of Dante and sending him in the opposite direction. It pulled its left arm back and punched Nero in the stomach, causing him to crumple inwards and loosening his grip on his sword. The armor then threw a punch at the blade with the same arm and sent it flying out of Nero's reach. They hit the wall then and the armor leaped backwards, pulling out the second sword as Nero collapsed to the floor. It landed a few feet away and watched as Nero slowly got back up, waiting until he was standing before rushing back in.

Dante meanwhile was picking himself up from the floor and as he looked up, he watched Nero doing the same. He saw the armor shift slightly and before he could yell out a warning the armor was closing in on him. "Nero!"

Nero looked up in confusion and the sight of the armor with both of its swords pointed towards his heart was the only thing he saw. Acting on reflex, he reached for his revolver and took a quick shot at the helmet. The bullets pinged off harmlessly and before he could fire again, he was hit by a wave of pain. He looked down at himself and opened his mouth to speak, but the only thing that came out was a glob of blood and spit. The armor had pinned him to the wall with its swords, one embedded in his right bicep and the other in his side. As he tried to move he felt his strength fading fast. Before he lost consciousness, the only thing he could wonder at was the fact that he could have sworn that the swords were aiming for his heart. So why would the armor change its targets mid-stab?

Dante stood at the other end, Rebellion held in a white-knuckled grip. He was using all of his will power to prevent himself from entering his devil form and he was visibly shaking from the effort. When he spoke, his voice was layered with his demonic voice, his eyes taking on a slight reddish glow; the two things he never could keep under control when his emotions ran high. **"Just who the hell are you really?" **

The armor turned its head towards him and answered. "What did you say his name was?" It looked back at Nero and shook its head. "It can't be him, we were told he died."

"**The kid's name is Nero. And you just pissed off his uncle. Name's Dante. Maybe you've heard of me. Famous demon hunter and all." **He said as his eyes narrowed. **"Why should you care?"**

The armor looked back at Dante again. "Nero? Uncle? No. No, it's not possible. He told us that he was dead, that he died when we were in Hell!" Dante stepped forward in shock as the demon grasped at its head, shaking it in denial. "Nonononono." With a furious motion the demon pulled its helmet off and threw it to the side before collapsing to the floor near Nero's unconscious body

Dante was shocked as he looked at the demon's face. The first thing he grasped was that the demon seemed to be crying, the tears slowly sliding down its cheeks. The second thing he realized was that he knew who it was. His grip on Rebellion slackened and with a loud clang, it dropped to the ground. He slowly pulled his feet forward, dragging them like they were stuck in cement before breaking out into a slight run and heading towards where Nero was pinned, his thoughts whirling in his head. Slowly pulling the figure up from the floor, he looked at them fully in the face.

"_Vergil?"_

* * *

><p><em>Uh...hi. So yeah. I'm back! I realized about a third of the way through writing the last bit of where we had last left off that I actually kinda hated Stelle, and if I was going to continue with this story, she was going to die quite quickly. Like, before they left Fortuna Castle dead. Which is quite quickly seeing as they <strong><em>were (no longer true)<em>**_ g_oing to be leaving soon. So I planned on rewriting and changing things...and two years later here we are! I'm not going to lie, I lost my steam, and was thinking about it maybe calling it quits. But I hate it when people quit in the middle of stories myself, so I promised to myself that I would not do that to my readers. Better extremely late than not at all. Thank you for sticking with me and hello to all new and old readers. Here's to new suspense and action and general butt-kickingness! Let's rock!  
><em>


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